Failed Irvine Mayoral candidate Daigle to run for the 74th Assembly District

Katherine Daigle, a two-time failed Irvine Mayoral candidate who has been accused of being a proxy for despised former Irvine Councilman Larry Agran, has pulled papers to challenge incumbent Assemblyman Matt Harper in the election for the 74th Assembly District. Daigle and Harper are Republicans.

The only Democrat in the race, Karina Onofre, also ran for the 74th A.D. in 2014, when her presence in that race caused another Democrat, Anila Ali, to slip into third place, behind Harper and the leader in that year’s primary election, Newport Beach Councilman Keith Curry.

Ali’s allies were so upset about Ali’s loss in 2014 that this year they made sure that Onofre was not endorsed by the Orange County Democratic Party’s Central Committee – even though no other Democrats in the race.

Onofre was a Democrat before switching to the GOP a few years ago when she ran for the Santa Ana City Council in 2012. She lost that race to Roman Reyna, a Democrat.

Onofre left the GOP in disgust over that party’s stance on immigration, returning to the Democratic Party.

Daigle’s entry into the race for the 74th A.D. is a gift to Harper as she will no doubt take a few female votes away from Onofre. However because Onofre is the only Democrat in the race she still has a chance of advancing to the general election.

What could hurt Onofre is less than 10% of the voters in the 74th A.D. are Latinos, according to Around the Capitol. Onofre would have been better served running for the heavily Latino 69th A.D., which is represented by the odious corporate Democrat Tom Daly.